In a statement posted on X by Olalekan Badmus, Special Assistant (Digital Media) to Governor Ademola Adeleke, the government insisted that the incident was “baseless.”
The Osun State government has condemned the arrest and humiliating treatment of an elderly Administrative Officer attached to a Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Egbedore Local Government Area, after photographs showing the man kneeling in police custody went viral.
In a statement posted on X by Olalekan Badmus, Special Assistant (Digital Media) to Governor Ademola Adeleke, the government insisted that the incident was “baseless.”
SaharaReporters learnt that the the elderly man was among four Osun State Local Government workers arrested for allegedly carting away documents and stealing property of council during resumption of duties.
It was recalled that members of Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) resumed on Monday duties after an 11-month strike action following control crisis between executives of All Progressives Congress(APC) and Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) since 2025.
Upon resumption, two workers in Boluwaduro council were arrested by the APC-reinstated chairmen who welcomed the members of NULGE to their duty posts.
It was gathered the top civil servants at the council allegedly smuggled into the premises and packed stationery with some vital documents inside a sack.
Reacting, the Governor’s aide said: "The elderly man seen kneeling in the viral photographs is an Administrative Officer attached to a Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Egbedore Local Government Secretariat.”
He explained that “some PHC workers are due for retirement and, in line with standard procedure, are required to prepare and submit their retirement notices to the appropriate authorities.”
Badmus said the retirement process stalled because “the relevant personnel files were kept in the main Secretariat building, which had been locked throughout the period of the strike.”
He added that “the Director of PHC and the Administrative Officer were unable to proceed with the processing of the workers’ retirement” due to the closure.
Following the reopening of the Secretariat, Badmus stated that “the PHC Director instructed the Administrative Officer to proceed to the Secretariat to retrieve the files of the retiring workers in order to prepare their retirement documents.”
However, he said that while carrying out the assignment, “the administrative officer was arrested, harassed, and humiliatingly treated, as captured in the viral photographs,” even though “he presented documents clearly showing that he was acting in connection with the processing of the nurses’ retirement.”
The statement further noted that “the retiring nurses themselves later arrived and even followed the elderly officer to the SCID to corroborate his explanation and confirm the legitimacy of his assignment.”
Badmus added that “one of the retiring nurses said she even called the arrested Administration Officer last night to remind him of the file to process their retirement papers.”
Badmus stressed that “notwithstanding the obvious frivolity and baselessness of the arrest, the police did not release him until about 8pm.”